The Russian hacker group Cold River last summer tried to attack three nuclear research laboratories in the United States. According to Reuters, citing their own information and five cybersecurity experts, the hackers wanted to steal the logins and passwords of employees, but whether they succeeded is unknown.
Attacks were made in August-September at Brookhaven, Argonne and Livermore National Laboratories named after Lawrence. According to the agency, the hackers created fake login pages for each institution and sent emails to nuclear scientists to force them to reveal their passwords. All three labs declined to comment on whether the hackers' attempts were successful.
Cold River first came to the attention of intelligence after the attack on the British Foreign Office in 2016. Reuters tracked down email accounts used in hacking operations between 2015 and 2020 and they led to an IT specialist in the Russian city of Syktyvkar.
"This is one of the most important hacker groups you've never heard of," Adam Meyers, senior vice president of intelligence for U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, told the agency. “They are involved in direct support of the Kremlin’s information operations.”
